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Tomb Raider creator forms new studio with former Yaiba dev team

Toby Gard, creator of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise, has formed Tangentlemen, a new development studio focused on experiential game design. The studio's team met while developing Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, which Gard served as director of, and includes Yaiba's lead designer, producer and art director.

Tangentlemen is currently in concept phase of their first project, a horror game currently being referred to as "Daedalus." In Greek mythology, Daedalus is the creator the Minotaur's labyrinth and Icarus' wings, so you know what that means: it means ... um, well let's see, the labyrinth could be ... uh ... okay, no, we have no idea what that means yet.

Founded by Toby Gard (Creator of Lara Croft and the original Tomb Raider, and Game Director of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z), Rich Smith (Art Director of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and artist from Call of Duty MW Series), John Garcia-Shelton (Producer of Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, Medal of Honor / Call of Duty games), Cory Davis (Creative Director Spec Ops: The Line, Lead Designer Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z), and a secret crew of genius tinkerers, the Tangentlemen are prepared to dive down the rabbit hole of experiential game design.

This team of industry innovators met while working on Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and quickly developed an eerie attraction to one another, and a creative groove. When Yaiba was unleashed on the public, they chose to strike out together, for fear of wild animals, spreadsheets, and desk jobs. They cleaned out a garage, moved in their computers, and took control of their destiny.

"The rocketing costs of AAA development led to a creative stagnation in games until the recent explosion of the indie scene. We have formed Tangentlemen to take some creative risks and trust our belief that there is an audience who want fun experiences that don't fall comfortably inside predefined marketing boxes." Says Co-Creative Director Toby Gard.

"At Tangentlemen, we see each creative dilemma - no matter how challenging as a dance with the devil, so to say. We live for those challenges. By relying on our collective experience, mutual respect, and off-kilter personalities, we're able to twerk it out into new exciting thematic territory." said game industry veteran Cory Davis, the Tangentlemen Co-Creative Director. "Our solutions are not what you'd expect. They're often weird, or even absurd, with strong gestures that challenge the status quo. Our games are extreme in their thematic, narrative, and mechanical design. I seriously can't wait to tell you exactly what we're up to right now!"

Tangentlemen is in the Concept Phase for their first project, an existential, surreal horror trip with a working title of Daedalus in a top-secret development chamber (garage). Details will be available shortly. In the mean time, you can keep up with the progress on www.tangentlemen.com , follow @tangentlemen on twitter, or like them on facebook.